Idiographic and Nomothetic

Question 1

Idiographic

Answer 1

Detailed study of one individual or one group to provide in depth
understanding

Question 2

Nomothetic

Answer 2

Study of larger groups with the aim of discovering norms, universal principles or ‘laws’ of behaviour

General principles of behaviour (law) are developed

Question 3

Which approaches are nomothetic?
(there are 3)

Answer 3

Social learning theory
Biological psychology
Cognitive psychology (memory/experiments)

Question 4

Which approaches are idiographic?
(there are 3)

Answer 4

Humanistic
Psychodynamic
Cognitive (case studies i.e Clive wearing)

Question 5

Does a nomothetic approach use a quantitative or qualitative data

Answer 5

Quantitative - numerical data is collected that is summarised and compared

Question 6

Does an idiographic approach use quantitative or qualitative data

Answer 6

Qualitative - content rich data that is difficult to analyse or summarise

Question 7

Is the nomothetic approach scientific?
(say why)

Answer 7

Yes - generalisations are made from the data to create universal laws of human behaviour. Data tends to have high reliability, arguably at the expense of validity.

Question 8

Is the idiographic approach scientific?
(say why)

Answer 8

No - there is no attempt to generalise findings into laws, so unrepresentative. Often has low reliability, as two case studies may be very different.

But rich data is arguably more valid than nomothetic techniques as it is a better reflection of ‘real’ life

Question 9

Describe the experimental technique of an nomothetic approach

Answer 9

Large scale data is collected from representative samples under highly controlled conditions

Examples are structured observations or experimental conditions with minimal extraneous variables

Question 10

Describe the non experimental technique of an idiographic approach

Answer 10

High quality data is specific to the individual, collected in depth by method such as case studies, content analysis and unstructured interviews

Question 11

Idiographic: Humanistic psychology and therapy example

Answer 11

Humanistic psychologists suggests that due to subjective and highly complex psychological aspects of human experience, we are not suitable for scientific study.

Rodgers and Maslow preferred investigating uniqueness of human experience instead of developing generalisable behavioural laws. Approach is used by client centred therapy - highly individualised approach to treatment that is missing from nomothetic treatments

Question 12

Idiographic: Memory case studies example

Answer 12

Clive Wearing - severe anterograde and retrograde amnesia, demonstrates the separation between types of LTM.

These in depth investigations provide insights about structure of mental process, which are used to inform theoretical models, support or contradict previous theories + construct testable hypothesis that can then be tested experimentally

Question 13

Nomothetic: Biological psychology and drug treatments exaple

Answer 13

Favour large scale nomothetic research methods e.g drug trials - allowed for the development of effective drug therapies such as chlorpromazine for schizophrenia and SSRI’s for OCD and depression

Use of strong controls and large representative samples in trials give doctors scientific confidence in the findings

Drugs are often seen as effective regardless of cultural variability, therapies take into consideration, individual experiences are often not

Question 14

Nomothetic: Learning theorists use of animal studies example

Answer 14

Skinner studied animals to develop the general laws of learning. These nomothetic techniques allowed extreme control over variables and were highly replicable

Development of classical and operant conditioning in this way has resulted in questions of validity when applied to humans (much richer psychological experiences), but these theories have stronger predictive power for human behaviour, have useful therapeutic application i.e CBT

Question 15

EVALUATION: Nomothetic - strength

Answer 15

GENERALISATIONS - data collected using nomothetic techniques is often easier to replicate, gather precisely and analyse using statistical methods

Allows psychologists to be more confident in generalising their findings and predict future behaviour

Question 16

EVALUATION: Nomothetic - criticism

Answer 16

SUPERFICIAL - while nomothetic allow people to be measured according to set criteria, these criteria do not give full picture of individual. Two people scoring 100 in an IQ test may have different areas of intellectual strength. Two people with depression diagnosis are likely to have very different personal experiences

Question 17

EVALUATION: Idiographic - strength

Answer 17

HYPOTHESIS GENERATION: idiographic case studies on their own cannot demonstrate the validity of a hypothesis, due to the small sample. However unusual cases can generate new interesting areas of research, or overturn old incorrect theories

Question 18

EVALUATION: Idiographic - criticism

Answer 18

SUBJECTIVITY: the intensive data collection techniques used by idiographic researchers, such as longitudinal case studies can result in the researcher loosing objectivity and introducing bias into the interpretation of the data collected

Question 19

EVALUATION: COMBINATION - strength

Answer 19

WORK TOGETHER: the idiographic approach uses in depth qualitative methods which complements the nomothetic approach by providing detail

In depth case studies such as HM (damaged memory) may reveal insights about normal functioning which contribute to our overall understanding

This suggests that even though the focus is on fewer individuals, the idiographic approach may help form ‘scientific’ laws of behaviour